Friday, December 30, 2005

In Which The Blogger Is Rude

Tonight I took my daughter to a birthday party. It was a swell party, an hour and an half at the skating rink followed by pizza and cake at the birthday boy's house. A good time was had by all.

Well, almost all.

After the kids were done with their ice cream the grownups sat around the table, picking at leftover pizza and layer cake. The man to my left, an uncle (by marriage) of the b-boy, was a teacher in one of the city's nicer public schools. He complained about some things, most notably his class size (32, and no teacher's aide). I asked him what was going on in one of the wealthier (by a lot) suburban districts. "I saw a sign in the back of someones 'car," I said, "that said "another Edina teacher without a contract."

"That's right," he nodded glumly, "they dont' have one."

"The trouble was ," I went on, "it was in the back window of a brand new Volvo station wagon. What kind of PR is that?"

He turned on me. "What are you saying? That teachers should drive jalopies?"

"Ha ha," I went on in the spirirt of bonhomie that up until that moment I thought was prevailing, "they should have borrowed my car. It would've garnered more sympathy."

"Everything?" I asked. "Like, really, everything?" Jeez, I thought, this country's in better shape than I thought!

At this point another relative of the b-boy got into the act. "Think, Susan. You're handing your child over to the public schools for six hours a day. Dont' you want them to be taught by the best? Who are well paid?'

"God, no! I'd never dream of handing my child over to the government for six hours a day."

The silence was palpable.

Until it was broken by the aunt.

"You," she jabbed her finger at me, "are rude! Very, very rude!"

"I'm rude? "

"You just slammed a teacher!"

"I made a joke about Volvos!"

"You are rude! You expressed an opinion! One that people at this table didn't agree with!"

"Wait a second. I'm rude, because I expressed an opinion? That's really what you're saying?"

"That's right!"

I burst out laughing. "Oh God. I love the Left!"

The aunt stormed out of the party. Leaving, incidentally, her husband and two kids behind.

The problem with the "your kids are with teachers six hours per day...shouldn't they be paid well?" is that there is no end to that argument. No matter how much you suggest they be paid, someone can always say, "What, X plus $10,000 is too much to pay someone as important as your child's teacher?".

That argument can also be used for any public servant, any profession whose work is valued.

Perhaps if I didn't end up correcting my eight-year old's homework (not his mistakes-the idiot teacher who wrote the homework sheet), I'd be more sympathetic toward the underpaid teacher cause.

Unbelievable! Good points on the Left's four essential characteristics, btw. I worked at my local newspaper for a summer during college and my editor was a fine example of this kind of no-fun... ever... kind of liberal. Number 4 definitely rings true.

6 hours a day should just about do it. 5 hours would not account for the free and reduced lunches. Just when I get upset with my private Catholic school about some petty thing, I read something like this and get down on my whinning knees and thank God for the choice (I have to pay extra for the choice)but at least I have a choice. Charter schools for all!

this is where i would have exploded. absolutely i would want my kids taught by the best and i would expect the best to be well paid. perhaps the contractless teachers should look in the mirror. where i come from you have to actually show positive results before you are rewarded. all i hear about is the shite state of affairs public schools are in. i can't finish the thought, i'm too aggravated. sorry. great blog. give them hell.

I don't know about everywhere else, but in Minnesota here the teachers' unions are like a 20's crime family. If they fire a poorly-performing teacher, they'll wake up the next day with their prize horse's head in their bedroom.

The teachers have no choice; either they're in the union or they'll literally never get hired. And good luck being openly conservative in the union.